Preview: Omaha Northwest Huskies vs. Jefferson Yellowjackets
The Omaha Northwest Huskies will head out on the road to square off against the Jefferson Yellowjackets at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Omaha Northwest has struggled recently with six losses in a row, while Jefferson will arrive with four straight victories.
Omaha Northwest pushed their score all the way to 75 on Tuesday, but even that wasn't enough to win. Their rough 98-75 defeat to Millard South might stick with them for a while. While losing is never fun, Omaha Northwest can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 206th, while Millard South is ranked 102nd).
Omaha Northwest might have lost, but man, Chiok John was a machine: he shot 4-for-5 from long range and dropped a double-double on 41 points and 12 rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points John has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Tony Smith, who scored six points along with four steals.
Meanwhile, Jefferson put the finishing touches on their sixth blowout victory of the season on Tuesday. They blew past Le Mars 81-60. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as Jefferson just coasted through the last quarter.
Omaha Northwest dropped their record down to 3-15 with that defeat, which was their third straight at home. That rough patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 58.7 points per game. As for Jefferson, they are on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 11 games, which provided a nice bump to their 16-3 record this season.
Omaha Northwest was able to grind out a solid win over Jefferson in their previous meeting back in February of 2023, winning 79-67. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Jefferson's Jayden Kapels, who scored 22 points along with five rebounds. Now that he won't be playing on Thursday, will it be that much easier for Omaha Northwest to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
